When Rec Room first launched in 2016, we thought of it as kind of like the “Wii Sports of VR.” At the time, our avatar designs followed the best practices for VR while keeping them charming and approachable. We avoided showing untracked legs and arms because it could break the feeling of presence; we kept facial features cute and minimal to avoid the uncanny valley effect; and we chose simplicity over visual detail so the game ran smoothly. Also, we were a small team with limited time and resources so we chose to keep our avatars simple.
We love the resulting “floating bean” avatars, and know you love them too. But a lot has changed in Rec Room over the last six years. We’re now a bigger team, VR technology has gotten and continues to get better, and we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t with how you look and move in VR. Our “Wii Sports of VR” has evolved into a radically cross-platform, social UGC platform. It's time to evolve how we can express ourselves in Rec Room.
Thus the full-body avatar. The arms, legs, fingers, and feet of this new full-body option provide more opportunities for you to be who you want to be in Rec Room. They also let us track movements better in VR, and help make the game more understandable when we share it with friends.
A concept showing what the full-body option might look like
At the end of last year, we assembled a small team called the "Avatar Initiative" to take the next step towards full-body avatars. Instead of working behind the scenes and revealing a new avatar option as part of an update, we decided to share our progress as we build. Your feedback will help us shape our work so we do our best to make Rec Room better without losing the things that make it special.
Our Design Values for Full-Body Avatars
We take it seriously that any change to avatars is a big deal and might disappoint those who have fallen in love with the floating bean style. So we have decided that it's a top priority to get these two things right:
When we release the full-body avatar, you will not be required to adopt it. The option to choose the new avatar or remain a floating bean will be yours. We will work hard to not change the look of your avatar for you.
The full-body avatar option will fully support all existing items at release. You’ve spent time and money building your identity and outfits, and we don’t want to mess with them!
😳 That's a lot of stuff we've made over the last 6 years
What’s Next?
You let us know your thoughts about our new initiative in Zendesk or on our Discord, and stay tuned for more dev blogs about full-body avatars as the details firm up. There’s lots to consider: how will leg and foot items work, what impact will the full-body option have on gameplay, in what new ways can you customize your avatar… We'll continue updating you on where we're heading, why we've chosen to go there, and what comes next.